Every country has something in its past it isn't proud of. For the United States, it's the eradication of the Native Americans. For the United Kingdom, it would be the centuries of mistreatment of Ireland. And for Ireland, it would certainly have to be the Magdalene Laundries. Although not the only country to have these institutions, Ireland is the one most associated with them. The places were known for the cruelty of the nuns that ran them towards the women who lived and worked there, even going so far as to not administer pain killers or really do much to help if a birthing went wrong. Far too many women (many of which were barely older than children themselves) and their children died because of cruelty and apathy of these institutions. Amazingly, the last Irish one stayed open until 1996.
